Plans for 'targeted' badger culls, which the previous Conservative government consulted on in March, have been scrapped by Labour.
The previous government sought views on targeted badger culling in areas of England, along with badger and cattle vaccination, to tackle bovine TB.
The Conservatives proposed badger culling as an option in targeted parts of the High-Risk Area and Edge Areas, including much of southwest and central England.
But in response to a legal challenge launched by ecologist Tom Langton, lawyers acting for the Labour government have confirmed these plans have been scrapped.
However, the government will continue to allow badgers to be culled under existing licenses.
And an application for a new culling licence in Cumbria, under the Low-Risk Areas policy from 2017, has been published for consultation.
Mr Langton, who brought the legal challenge that provoked the Labour government’s response, said it was a "small but important step" toward banning the badger cull.
"Labour has previously stated that culling is ineffective and now the government has scrapped a consultation that claimed culling worked," he explained.
"But it is shameful that the Labour administration is continuing the badger culls and expanding them in the Low-Risk Area, contradicting its manifesto pledge, to appease a vocal minority based upon old scientific rhetoric and dogma.”
Bovine TB is considered one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that England faces today.
It causes devastation for farming and rural communities, leading to tens of thousands of cattle culled each year. In 2022, a total of 22,084 cattle were culled.
